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Actor whose good looks and charm took him to the heights of Hollywood with films such as Some Like It Hot and The Defiant Ones

Born into a family of Hungarian Jews who had emigrated to the Us, Bernard Schwartz – the boy who became the actor Tony Curtis – could scarcely have dreamed of the wealth, fame and rollercoaster life that awaited him. Curtis, who has died aged 85, starred in several of the best films of the 1950s, including Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Defiant Ones (1958) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He enjoyed a long career thanks to his toughness and resilience (despite insecurities that demanded years of therapy).

He grew up in the Bronx, New York, the eldest of three sons. As a child, he was ill-treated by his mother, Helen, and spent time in an orphanage. One of his brothers, Robert, was a schizophrenic and the other, Julius, was...

American actor who played an array of kindly fathers, doctors, lawyers and rabbis

Harold Gould, who has died aged 86, was categorised as a character actor, usually a euphemism for an actor who did not quite make it to the top. But it would be more accurate to describe him as a supporting actor who made invaluable contributions to innumerable television shows and dozens of films. The elegantly dressed Gould, with his grey hair and natty moustache, "supported" many a star, often in the roles of kindly uncles, fathers and husbands as well as doctors, psychiatrists, lawyers, rabbis and teachers.

The five times Emmy-nominated Gould was probably most widely known as Martin Morgenstern, Valerie Harper's handsome smoothie father in Rhoda (1974-78), and the college professor widower who courts Rose (Betty White) in the sitcom The Golden Girls (1985-92). In the latter, Gould played Miles Webber, a mild-mannered man who turns...

For those of you who have been living under a rock (or were born in the last 15 years or so), here is a very abridged summary of Gone with the Wind: it enters on the lives of Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), and their friends and families, and how they're affected by the Civil War.

I don't really know what else to say about it. I mean...it's Gone with the Wind. It was re-released about a million times, and, as far as I know, faces no real threat of a remake. It's a classic — a wonderful, untouchable classic. I didn't read the book, so I don't know personally how faithful the movie is. A friend recently told me, though, that one of our high school English teachers told him it was the best film adaptation of a book she had ever seen. And trust me — this woman's word is law.

Actress Carrie Nye has lost her battle with lung cancer at her home in New York. She was 69. The Emmy-nominated The Scarlett O'Hara War star - the wife of beloved US talk show host Dick Cavett - was born in Mississippi in 1936 and attended Yale Drama School in Connecticut. She made her name on Broadway, where she enjoyed a distinguished career in hits like Cop-out, A Second String and Tommy Steele musical Half A Sixpence, which earned her a Tony nomination for her performance as Helen Walsingham. Nye was also a favorite at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she appeared in 24 productions, including Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire. She went on to receive an Emmy nomination for playing Tallulah Bankhead in TV film The Scarlett O'Hara War, and had two recurring roles on daytime drama The Guiding Light.